Symmetrization of the growth deformation and velocity gradients in residually stressed biomaterials

Some fundamental issues in the kinematic and kinetic analysis of the stress-modulated growth of residually stressed biological materials are addressed within the context of the multiplicative decomposition of deformation gradient into its elastic and growth parts. The symmetrizations of the growth part of the deformation gradient and the growth part of the velocity gradient are derived for isotropic pseudoelastic soft tissues. The significance of results in the formulation of the biomechanic constitutive theory is discussed.